Former Yukos vice-president Aleksanyan dies

MOSCOW, October 4 (Itar-Tass) — Former Yukos vice-president Vasily Aleksanyan, 38, died at home in Moscow. He had been sick with AIDS, cancer and other serious diseases. Aleksanyan was in custody for two years on charges of squandering, money laundering and tax evasion. In December 2008, the Moscow City Court released him on bail. The European court of human rights had pointed out at the necessity to hospitalize the defendant three times, noting that the Russian authorities had not shown proper care for Vasily Aleksanyan's health, which caused him severe suffering, and his incarceration continued, the "Kommersant" reminds. A court had been reviewing the criminal case against Aleksanyan on the merits until June 2010, when it passed a resolution on dropping criminal prosecution. However, the trial was stopped not for rehabilitating reasons, but due to the statute of limitations. After the sum of bail was returned to Aleksanyan and he was permitted to leave the country, he went to Israel for treatment, which helped temporarily. Rights activists came up with their points of view regarding the death of the former Yukos top manager, the "RBK Daily" underlines. Leader of the For Human Rights movement Lev Ponomayrov believes Aleksanyan might still be alive, had he not spent so much time in a remand ward. Vladimir Putin wrote an article about the establishment of a Eurasian Union. The Customs Union and the Common Economic Space can make the basis of a Eurasian Union, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his article for the newspaper "Izvestia." The establishment of the Common Economic Space in the beginning of 2012 is a crucial integration project, which is "a historical landmark not only for our three countries, but also for all states in the post-Soviet space," Putin writes. While noting the advantages of the Customs Union which was launched earlier this year and the emerging Common Economic Space of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Putin notes that these projects "are making groundwork for creating a Eurasian Economic Union in the future." The next, higher level of integration would be the establishment of the Eurasian Union. "It is not about re-building the USSR in this or that form," the prime minister stressed, "it implies close integration on a new value system and political and economic basis; it is an imperative of our era." "We're offering a model of a powerful supra-national association, capable of becoming one of the poles of the modern world while playing the role of an effective link between Europe and a dynamic Asian-Pacific region," Putin writes.